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5 Essential Privacy Settings for Chrome on Android

android chrome browser

Since the Android mobile operating system is designed by Google, your Android mobile device is informally linked with Google. Relying on your circumstances, you will consider it really beneficial and helpful to have your information secured and integrated across multiple devices under one account. You may demand more secrecy and not want your information to be remembered across numerous devices. If you are using all those services under one account, someone can have access to your Google account and come to know about a lot of your smartphone activity. The good thing is that Google provides a lot of privacy options to keep your Android devices more secure.

Enable Do Not Track

Websites place cookies on your device. The cookies enable the website to track your actions around the web, even when you are not on their website. If you activate “Do Not Track” feature, Chrome will undoubtedly send a “Do Not Track” request with your browsing traffic. Using “Do Not Track” option restricts websites from tracking cookies. Still, it depends on the website to comply with request. Technically, websites are under no obligation to respect the request.

This method is different from the Firefox feature and doesn’t permit websites to track you whatever the circumstances are, even when the website in question doesn’t adhere to the “Do Not Track” standard.

On another hand, all standard websites will respect the request, so the feature will prevent them from gathering your information.

To activate “Do Not Track” on Chrome for Android devices, follow the given steps:

1.) Open Chrome on your device.

open chrome android
2.) Tap on More (the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner).

more option browser chrome
3.) Select “Settings” from the menu.

Settings option chrome android

4.) Go to “Advanced > Privacy”.

advanced settings chrome android
5.) Click on “Do Not Track”.

do not track option android chrome
6.) Move the toggle into the “On” position.

disable do not track option chrome androidTurn-on Safe Browsing

As phishing attacks are becoming more complicated, spotting them is getting harder and harder. Additionally, websites which try to install viruses and malware on your Android devices or initiate other online attacks are becoming more and more usual.

To assist you with this, Google has built Safe Browsing technology. It’ll display a warning on your mobile screen if you attempt to explore a web page which it considers to be unsafe.
Safe Browsing will also notify you about websites which induce you to install unwanted software. Google determines undesired software as “programs impersonate as helpful downloads that actually make uninvited modification to your Android device like switching your homepage or other browser settings to ones you don’t want.”

To turn on Safe Browsing, follow the following steps:

1.) Open Chrome on your Android device.

open chrome android

2.) Click on More.

more option browser chrome
3.) Browse to “Settings > Advanced > Privacy”.

advanced settings chrome android
4.) Mark the checkbox next to “Safe Browsing”.

android safe browsing chromeTurn-off Autofill

Autofill is a security nightmare. Using pre-populated addresses and credit card information on application and websites make your android device unprotected. If someone accesses your mobile device can easily steal your identity before you realize that something is wrong.
Turn off the Autofill feature:

1.) Open Chrome.
2.) Go to More > Settings > Basics > Autofill and payments and disabling the various toggles.

auto fill payments chrome android

disable autofill forms chrome android

It is really important to remove any old card details and addresses that are still associated with your autofill account.  Given are the steps to delete the pre-populated information:

1.) Open Chrome
2.) Go to More > Settings > Privacy > Clear browsing data > Advanced > Autofill form data.

cleaning browsing data chrome android

auto fill form data chrome android
Check Your Site Permissions

Have you ever closed to observe all the different things website want to access when you browse them? The list of website permissions shines a light on the matter. There are 15 unique entries. They vary from the obvious, like your camera and microphone, to under-the-hood things that most users would never contemplate such as JavaScript and clipboard.

Some of these settings are permitted by default. Still, if you want to additionally protected, set all of them to “Ask First”. Even though it might be fascinating, you should not just blindly disable everything. Disabling everything can lead to usability problems.

Annoyingly, the authorization settings are divided across two areas. You can modify some in Chrome itself by browsing to More > Settings > Advanced > Site Settings. For remainder, open phone’s Setting > Device > Apps > Chrome > Permissions.

Manage Your Syncing Options

Chrome is just one part of Google. Usually, Chrome likes to share data with all your Google Applications and all other instances of Chrome you are using.

This has notable advantages from a productivity aspect. Still, from a privacy and security point of view, it is a complete disaster. By synchronizing your data, you are building various weak points against the protection.

We are not certainly recommending a complete disabling all synchronization, but you need to maintain a happy compromise between security and efficiency.
You can easily manage Chrome synchronization settings by browsing More > Settings, tap on your Name and Select Sync.

Make your Chrome more secure with the help of above-mentioned privacy settings. If you have any suggestion, share with us in comments.

 

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